Leaders of parties in Greece’s coalition are meeting with prime minister Lucas Papademos to agree on the terms of the new bailout loan.

They all have to sign-off on what is being demanded by the troika of IMF and EU negotiators before a 130 billion euro rescue package is released.

Reports in the Greek media say the conditions include shedding 15,000 public sector jobs and cutting the minimum wage and pensions by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively.

Many ordinary Greeks are pessimistic, like Athens resident Nikos Arrenopoulos who said: “It’s a slow death. The situation is worthy of despair. If you look around, all you see is depression.”

Philipos Bertzeletis, who also lives in the capital, asked: “Is there some kind of light at the end of the tunnel we don’t know about? Mathematically we’re being led to disaster. The catastrophe’s happened, but not been made official yet.”

Tuesday’s 24 hour general strike saw thousands of workers down tools for the day, protesting the planned austerity measures.

In signs that anger is also being directed at the EU, German flags were burnt outside the parliament building in Athens.